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Moving on…???
“Words in double quotes” – Talking
‘Words in single quotes’ – Thoughts
(Words in braces) – Telephone conversations
Chapter 5
Ragini shook her head again. “That’s not the only reason Sanskar.” she said in a stern voice. “The truth is that I…I already in a have a boyfriend. It’s Caleb.”
Sanskar’s eyes widened at her words. “What?!”
Ragini nodded. “I…” she swallowed in nervousness. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. My family doesn’t know about it either but…but Caleb is my boyfriend.”
“You’re…you’re lying! You’re just creating this guy up, aren’t you?”
Ragini shook her head. “No Sanskar. I’m not joking.”
“I thought you said you didn’t want a relationship?!”
“I never said that. I said that I don’t want a relationship where I’m suppressed. I want someone who respects my individuality.”
“I would respect your individuality!” Sanskar stressed.
Ragini smiled a soft smile. “Maybe you will Sanskar. But the thing is I…I already love him with my very being. I can’t let him go.”
Sanskar balled his hands into fists. “Why not?!”
“Because I love him Sanskar. I love him.” she told him, helplessly. “Maybe you would have been a good choice for me. But I already gave my heart to another. I’m sorry Sanskar. But I can’t help it now.”
“But I love you! I can’t help it either.” he reasoned. “Just forget him then. It shouldn’t be that hard!” he shouted in stubbornness.
Ragini gave a humorless chuckle. “You say it like its so simple. That’s because you don’t know what love is. You claim to love me, but it’s not true love Sanskar. If it was, you wouldn’t say such things to me.”
“Who is this Caleb?!” Sanskar shouted in anger. ‘Koun he ye kamina jo mera ghar basne se pehle hi ujar raha!’
“Um…that would be me.”
Sanskar and Ragini both turned around to see Caleb standing there, looking at them in confusion.
Caleb smiled at Ragini. “I came here hoping that I would find you here Ragini, since the beach is your favorite spot. And I guess I wasn’t wrong.” he turned to look at Sanskar. “But I can’t understand why you are asking about me. Do I know you?”
“Yeah. You will soon once I introduce you to my fist.” Sanskar gritted out.
“Eh? What did I do?”
Ragini smiled at Caleb and moved towards him. She entwined her fingers with his. “Nothing Caleb. I was just telling him about our truth.”
“Truth?”
“Yes Caleb. He needs to know why I can’t marry him.”
“Eh? But Ra-”
“Don’t worry Caleb. Sanskar won’t tell my family about our secret relationship. He isn’t such a person, I’m sure. Right Sanskar?” she asked, turning to look at Sanskar with hope.
Caleb, on the other hand, was looking at her as if she had grown a second head. “Ragi-” before he could speak more, Ragini hugged him.
“Don’t worry Caleb. We won’t be separated. He won’t agree to marry me as he now knows I love you.” she spoke aloud. However, she lowered her voice and whispered in his ear. “I’m lying to him that you and I are in a relationship so that he breaks the marriage. Just play along.” saying so, she broke the hug and stood beside him with a smile.
“Is it true Caleb?” Sanskar questioned, taking Caleb’s name with utter disgust and hatred.
“Um I guess…I mean I…I um..” Caleb stuttered in his words. “I th-YES!” he exclaimed suddenly. “Yes we are! We are, we are!” he shouted. ‘Ow Ow Ow Ow! My hand, my hand!’ he mentally screamed as Ragini silently kept squeezing his hand with her long nails. Once satisfied with his answer, she let go, still keeping an innocent face.
Caleb looked her with a pout. ‘That seriously hurt. Ugh! The things I do for you!’ he turned to look ahead at Sanskar. It only made him wish he didn’t.
Sanskar kept looking at him like an angry bull. If looks could kill, Caleb would not doubt be lying in a pool of his own blood.
Caleb gulped. ‘On one hand, he looks ready to kill me for being Ragini’s boyfriend. And on the other hand, if I tell him the truth, Ragini will kill me for sure! If one is a bull, the other is a lioness. Both looks ready to tear me apart!’
Sanskar was thinking along the same lines. ‘I’ll kill him! I’ll shoot him and kill him, then revive him and kill him again; revive him once more and feed him to the lions; and maybe revive him and kill him again just for fun. Mwhahahahahahahaha…!’
“Err…dude, are you alright?” Caleb asked with uncertainty as he heard Sanskar cackle.
Sanskar snapped out of his thoughts at his words, realizing he laughed out loud. “Nothing. Nothing at all!” he coughed to cover his embarrassment. “So, you’re her boyfriend, eh? Tell me about her likes and dislikes.”
Caleb smiled. He may not really be her boyfriend, but he was her best friend. So he already knew her well. “That’s easy. She likes panipuris the most. When it comes to gifts, she would prefer a cool bag or a pair of sneakers rather than teddy bears. And as for what she hates? She hates Chinese food, and also pretentious people.”
Sanskar gave a tight smile. “I see. You seem to know it well.” if Caleb was near him, he would have probably heard Sanskar’s teeth grinding against with each other in jealousy.
“Aww…my sweet Caleb.” Ragini spoke with affection, blinking her eyes at him dramatically, trying to act like a love-smitten girlfriend.
Caleb blushed as he looked at Ragini. She may be faking it, but he really did have feelings for her.
Caleb and Ragini had been besties from childhood. However, he never thought that the Ragini, who wore braces and tied her hair in pig tails as a child, would grow up to be such a beautiful lady.
Her eyes, her face, her body…all made his heart beat faster. And when she wore dresses that hugged her body that showed her curves…he could barely keep control over himself and not drool. She was simply mesmerizing for him. At times, it took all his self control to keep himself pulling her to himself and claiming her lips.
However, he regretted never having the courage to admit his attraction towards her. It was because of this that now Ragini was about to be married off. ‘No! I must tell her I like her before she marries another. I’ll tell her and maybe…maybe she might like me back. After all, if I fell in love with her over the years, she may be in love with me too!’ he was broken out of his thoughts by Sanskar’s voice.
“So you say you two haven’t spoken about your relationship to your parents. May I know why?” Sanskar enquired.
“It’s…it’s because they don’t want me to marry a guy who isn’t well established yet.” Ragini explained, cooking up a fake story. “But don’t worry. Caleb is on the search for a high paying job. Soon we’ll tell my parents about us. Right Caleb?”
Caleb put a hand on her waist and pulled her closer. In other situations, he wouldn’t be so bold and do such things, fearing she would find out he liked her. But now, since they were acting to be in a relationship, Caleb aimed to take every opportunity he could get to touch her.
Ragini looked shocked by the sudden action. Although she was sure he was only acting, him pulling her so close made her uncomfortable. Even if he was her best friend, she has always maintained a limit.
Caleb smiled at her. “Yes dear, you’re right.”
At that very moment, Ragini and Sanskar’s faces had various levels of shock and realization.
Ragini, who was smiling all along, thinking her plan was working well, felt like smacking herself on the head. ‘Shit shit shit! Anyone would know that me, being me, won’t like to be called ‘dear’. Caleb, you idiot, dolt, moron, pig, baboon! Argh!’
Sanskar, who had his face scrunched up in anger, now looked pointedly at them. ‘ He called her ‘dear’? Someone like Ragini, being called a ‘dear’? I thought she would murder a person if they called her such sappy, cliché names. Hmm…I wonder…’ a plan cooked up in his mind.
“Okay. You both say you’re in a relationship, eh? And you don’t want me to tell the Gadodias?”
‘Yay! I guess he didn’t notice Caleb’s slip. Thank goodness!’ Ragini smiled to herself. “Yes Sanskar. Please don’t tell. You can give any other reason for not marrying me. But please don’t tell on us.”
“Oh don’t worry. I won’t tell.”
“Thank you, Sanskar.” Caleb said in gratefulness.
Ragini raised an eyebrow. “You won’t?” something seemed off. Sanskar was agreeing too easily.
Sanskar nodded. “Yes, I won’t. You know why? Because I know you’re lying.” he said with a chuckle.”You can’t fool Sanskar Maheshwari.”
Ragini and Caleb looked at him in shock. Caleb was in full on panic mode. Ragini was in the same state, but composed herself. “N-no, we aren’t! Why would we lie?!”
Sanskar’s smirked hearing the stutter in her voice. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you think it would make me break the marriage?”
“T-that’s ridiculous!” Ragini exclaimed. She took Caleb’s hand in hers and looked into his eyes. “He doesn’t believe our love Caleb. Why doesn’t he believe our pure love?!” she shouted, lying through her teeth, trying to act convincing.
Sanskar crossed his hands in front of him. “Love you say, eh? Fine then. Prove it to me.”
Ragini glared at him, her competitive side coming out. “Fine! I’ll prove it to you. I’ll show you our pictures from our dates!” she challenged. ‘Me and Caleb hang out in our evening times in Restro Corner. I’ll show him those pics and tell him those were our dates.’
Sanskar snorted. “Nah. I want something else.” he smirked. “Kiss.”
Ragini looked at him in bewilderment. “W-what?”
“I want you two to kiss in front of me. Only then will I believe you.”
Ragini choked on her breath on his words, while Caleb looked on wide-eyed. It’s not like he minded kissing Ragini. But still, Sanskar’s words didn’t fail to shock him.
“I’m not doing any such thing you moronic bast-!”
“Hey, language!” Sanskar chided playfully, his smirk turning more confident. “I don’t get why you’re getting so worked up about it. If you’re already in a relationship, then why should you be so uncomfortable about it.”
“Because…because I…” Ragini tried to think of an excuse. “Because we don’t like to do it in front of others.” she declared.
Sanskar laughed out loud. He walked ahead towards them and calmly put his hands on their entwined hands. Abruptly, he broke them apart, pushing Caleb more harshly than Ragini, making him fall on the sand. With his other hand, he pulled Ragini near him and looked directly her into her eyes.
“Until and unless I see you two kiss, I won’t believe you and he are in a relationship. I won’t tell your parents about all this either, since I’m sure it’s a lie. As for now, you will silently come behind me to the car and we will drive to your home. Then, I shall tell your parents that I like you and you won’t say a word, got it?”
“This…this is irrational! I don’t love you, you don’t love me an-”
“Yes I do love you.”
“No you don’t! If you loved me, you wouldn’t behave this way. You only want me because I’m something which seems like a challenge to you. This isn’t true love!” Ragini shouted in anger.
“Love is wanting someone to be theirs, isn’t it? And I want you.”
All the while, Caleb looked at them in shock from his position on the ground. He could feel his hate growing for Sanskar each second as he watched him.
“That isn’t love. That’s simply an obsession you moronic, two-faced nitwit!”
“Whatever! I think it’s love and that’s it! You’ll do as I say.” Sanskar demanded. “You think it’s a challenge, eh? Okay then, it is. But I like challenges. And right now, you’re my biggest challenge Ragini. A challenge I refuse to lose. You will be mine.”
“As if I’ll listen to the likes of you! I’m not yours or anyone’s! I’m my own being!” Ragini tried to break free of his grip. “You don’t get to decide for me. Leave me! Who are you to tell me what to do?! Who are you to rule over me?!”
Before she could make sense of what he was doing, he moved forward and kissed her cheek. “I won’t try to impose my views on you once you marry me. But until then, I’ll do everything possible to make you mine. Even if that means going against you. After all…” he smirked at her. “You are my person. Mine and mine only.”
All Ragini could do was gasp as he let her go. She touched her cheek where he kissed her and watched him walk off, motioning her to follow him.
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To be continued…
~ ? Mona ?